Guilty or not guilty?
Netflix is facing both outcomes after its recent movie, “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” triggered a lawsuit from Chooseco, LLC, the childrens’ book publisher that owns the trademark to “Choose Your Own Adventure.”
A complaint was filed in Vermont federal court Friday that alleges that Netflix has benefited from associating with the iconic brand and that “Bandersnatch” has been widely connected to the trademark phrase “Choose Your Own Adventure.”
Chooseco has been using the mark since the 1980s and has sold more than 265 million copies of its Choose Your Own Adventure books.
The company says 20th Century Fox currently holds the option to develop an interactive series based on the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix has been actively pursuing a license since 206.
“Chooseco and Netflix engaged in extensive negotiations that were ongoing for a number of years, but Netflix did not receive a license,” the complaint states. “On at least one occasion before the release of Bandersnatch, Chooseco sent a written cease and desist request to Netflix asking Netflix to stop using the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE mark in connection with its marketing efforts for another television program.”
In the complaint, Chooseco notes that in one scene, the protagonist Stefan Butler refers to the fictional novel that he’s adapting into a video game as a “Choose Your Own Adventure book.”
Netflix has not made a public response. But the streaming service itself has avoided using the phrase “Choose Your Own Adventure” in advertising “Bandersnatch.”
Chooseco is demanding at least $25 million in damages.